Pappu Datta at Patliputra Nursing Home in Dhanbad on Tuesday. (Gautam Dey)

Dhanbad, Nov. 30: A 17-year-old undergoing treatment in a city nursing home after suffering a stroke last week could well be the first known case of progeria in Jharkhand.

The disease is an extremely rare genetic condition in which symptoms resembling aspects of aging are manifested at an early age.

However, for the parents of Bhuli resident Pappu Datta, there is nothing unusual about their son except that he is thinner and smaller than boys of his age, and has not been keeping well of late.

G. Chatterjee, one of the doctors attending on Pappu, said the teenager displayed all the symptoms of progeria like a large skull, small jaw, large ears, wrinkled skin and stunted growth. “The stroke Pappu suffered normally occurs in people above 60 years of age,” said Chatterjee. “As there in no cure, we are concentrating on treating him for the stroke and the subsequent paralysis,” he added.

Pappu’s father Madhav, a daily-wage earner working in a plastic factory in Silvassa who rushed back to Dhanbad on hearing of his son’s ill health, could not keep the pride out of his voice as he described his first born as a bright child. “Pappu has always been intelligent and we enrolled him in an English medium school when he was six as we wanted him to become an officer,” he said.

After a year, lack of money forced the family to take Pappu out of the school and enrol him in a government-run institution where he studied up to Class IV. “He was a favourite of his teachers because he was so good in studies,” said Madhav.

However, ill health compelled Pappu to remain at home as digestive problems and constant body ache made it almost impossible for him to step out.

“Though he is slightly thinner and weaker than his friends, he is more intelligent,” said Pappu’s mother Kamala, adding that their 14-year-old daughter Kamala does not suffer from any medical conditions.

According to Madhav, his relatives told him that his son suffered from some liver or heart ailment and required medical care, but specialised treatment was way beyond his means, earning as he did only Rs 150 a day.

However, help is at hand for the family as the doctors of Pataliputra Nursing Home, where Pappu is undergoing treatment, have decided to extend all possible support.

President of Dhanbad chapter of Indian Medical Association Dr A.K. Singh said the association will do all to ensure treatment of the patient.